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March 24, 2023
For the first time ever, UK gymnastics’ national governing bodies across all four home nations have come together on a plan to create enjoyable, safe and open spaces for all gymnasts. Titled ‘Leap Without Limits’, under the new vision British Gymnastics, Gymnastics Northern Ireland, English Gymnastics, Scottish Gymnastics and Welsh Gymnastics are uniting to ensure gymnastics is inclusive, supportive and aspirational.
This collective effort comes following a Whyte Review published last year that uncovered an abusive culture in British Gymnastics and the UK gymnastics culture overall. The review examined over 400 complaints and discovered accounts of sexual abuse allegations, as well as physical and emotional abuse. The sport’s governing body was described as an ‘insular organization’ that was disconnected from the sport, the gymnasts and people involved in the sport. In response, Sarah Powell, CEO of British Gymnastics, offered a full apology and vowed to rid the sport of abuse and create a safer environment for all gymnasts.
The new vision follows a 15-month British Gymnastics ‘Shape Our Future’ exercise, where gymnasts past and present, parents, coaches, judges, volunteers, staff and partner organizations across the UK shared on what needed to change. The governing bodies used the input to guide on how the gymnastics world can better work together to have the greatest impact on society and positively shape the future of the sport.
“If we can…put positive experiences at the heart of everything we do, then our sport has a real opportunity to change lives, enrich and connect communities, helping address some of the big societal challenges we face as a country. For many of us, gymnastics can be the first sport we ever do. As a nation we need more people to be active, and if people’s first experience of physical activity is a positive one, they are more likely to stay active,” writes the organization.
Leap Without Limits intends to harness the power of gymnastics to change lives, enrich and connect communities and create safe spaces for practice and development. It intends to reinforce the good things happening in the sport while also driving change and reform where needed.
The initiative includes five important ‘leaps’ for the sport as a whole to take to see this new vision become a reality:
- The ‘Why’ Leap: Nurturing and celebrating the positive impact of gymnastics on individuals, communities and wider society.
- The ‘Empowerment’ Leap: Supporting everyone involved in gymnastics to play their part in making a positive difference.
- The ‘Experience’ Leap: Making positive experiences and memories central to everything we do, at every stage, in every role.
- The ‘Creative’ Leap: Encouraging and welcoming new ideas to support meaningful change.
- The ‘Together’ Leap: Uniting the community, existing and new partners to maximize impact, learning and growth.
Actions that will be taking place as part of the long-term vision for the sport includes a robust approach to learning and development of the gymnastics workforce, work to build international support for gymnastics to become a Paralympic sport and developing a new membership offer. Additionally, British Gymnastics will deliver all the 40 actions it has committed to in Reform ’25 over the next two years to create safe, positive and fair experiences for all in gymnastics, including a major Safe Sport campaign – all in the hopes of addressing some of the big societal challenges faced in the country and creating a positive environment of the sport.
Leap Without Limits comes just ahead of the launch of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation‘s new six-year strategic framework to make the sport safer, thriving and impactful. The independent legal entity for safeguarding in gymnastics announced ‘Gymansts 2028’ yesterday in the lead-up to the Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games which are both viewed as “critical benchmark moments for the sport of gymnastics and wider issues concerning ethics, integrity and safety.”
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